Here’s 30 T.S. Eliot Quotes That You Don’t Want to Miss. These reflect Eliot’s rich literary contributions and themes:
- “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – The Hollow Men (1925)
- “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.” – Little Gidding (1942)
- “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – Little Gidding (1942)
- “The journey, not the destination, matters.” – Attributed
- “To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.” – The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933)
- “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” – The Rock (1934)
- “Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity.” – Attributed
- “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – Four Quartets (1943)
- “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.” – The Hollow Men (1925)
- “The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief.” – The Idea of a Christian Society (1939)
- “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” – Attributed
- “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” – Philip Massinger (1920)
- “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” – Burnt Norton (1936)
- “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” – Dante (1929)
- “In my beginning is my end.” – East Coker (1940)
- “Only by going too far can one possibly find out how far one can go.” – Attributed
- “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” – Little Gidding (1942)
- “The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started.” – Little Gidding (1942)
- “A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can’t be much good.” – Attributed
- “Home is where one starts from.” – East Coker (1940)
- “The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink.” – Attributed
- “Success is relative: It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.” – Attributed
- “Poetry may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being.” – The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933)
- “Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want.” – Attributed
- “You are the music while the music lasts.” – The Dry Salvages (1941)
- “Hell is oneself.” – The Cocktail Party (1949)
- “So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” – East Coker (1940)
- “We are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men.” – The Hollow Men (1925)
- “April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land.” – The Waste Land (1922)
- “The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.” – Little Gidding (1942)